The man who brings wonder to the world every night with Cirque du Soleil, wants to bring clean water to everyone in the world. Guy Laliberté’s OneDrop Foundation is staging a two hour online event tomorrow, October 8, at 8pm ET.

The live webcasts from around the world will bring together environmentalists, politicians, and celebrities. The organization has called on some pretty heavy hitters: Shakira, Bindi Irwin (Steve Irwin’s daughter), Vice President Al Gore, Salma Hayek, Bono, and many others.

The question is, with Guy broadcasting from the International Space Station and all these big names, why isn’t there more buzz for this event. Facebook shows only 2,311 “confirmed guests.” That seems pretty low. Showtimes’ Dexter had over 13,000 people saying they’d be watching the season premier.

Maybe people just have too many other crises on their minds at the moment? Or people just do not think that the lack of clean water for one in eight people on the planet or that 3.5 million people die each year from water-related disease is a major problem.

Where do you see accessible, clean water on the scale of things the world needs to address? And if you think it’s important, what are you doing about it?

This week’s headlines seem more ominous with each passing day: increasing unrest in Iran, missile threats from North Korea, waves of bombings in Iraq, displaced Pakistanis fleeing from the Taliban, and climate change forcing migration. Tell us what you think:

Which of these is the greatest threat to global safety and security? Unrest in Iran North Korean Missiles Climate Change Instability in Pakistan War in Iraq View Results  Loading ...

Monday’s New York Times features an article exploring the report “In Search of Shelter,” released from a global climate summit in Bonn. “In Search of Shelter” details growing accounts of migration driven by climate change, and the resultant populations of displaced citizens. Times contributor Tom Zeller highlights the large communities in Asia that rely on the Himalayas to replenish rivers and provide drinking water. With those glaciers rapidly shrinking, millions of residents will eventually be without water and forced to relocate.

A common, and probably valid, fear is that impoverished communities—those with the fewest resources and heaviest reliance on the “whims of the weather”—will be the most severely impacted.

In large part, the concept of climate-induced migration is one met with contention and skepticism. After all, how can something so elusive be measured? A myriad of factors may be at play with any single decision to move, including political, economic, and familial considerations. Since it’s nearly impossible to isolate climate change as a catalyst for migration, the numbers surrounding the phenomenon are frustratingly inconsistent.

Still, environmental leaders worldwide are desperately trying to find empirical measurements for the phenomenon. Visit the New York Times for the full story and to read the complete “In Search of Shelter” report.

What do you predict will be the impact of climate migration?

In a recent article on earth-stream.com, Frances Moore Lappé, author of the famed 70s cookbook Diet for a Small Planet, makes a pretty bold claim. Lappé says we already have the tools to solve world hunger and climate change, we just need to readjust assumptions we have about the world.

Here are the five mental roadblocks she cites as barriers to a successful future.

1.    Going green means a drastic reduction in energy consumption.

2.    Sustainable living marks the end of economic growth.

3.    Humans are by nature selfish and greedy.

4.    As a society, Americans dislike rules and rebel against structure.

5.    Our environmental and social problems are so urgent, there isn’t time for a democratic solution.

We wholeheartedly agree that sustainability doesn’t necessitate a drastic reduction in consumption—just reliance instead on renewable energy. And we know green technologies will open up an entirely new industry and grow—rather than shrink—the economy.

We also tend to agree that humans crave structure (every freelancer who’s gone from power suits to sweats in one week flat can attest to this).

But Lappé lost us at number five. Who is advocating we forgo democracy to solve climate change or water scarcity? We certainly recognize the urgency, but would never propose undemocratic means to achieve our goals.

What do you think? Is she right—will a paradigm shift alone solve our problems? Or is a more nuanced approach—one of thinking coupled with action (perhaps in the form of legislation)—a smarter path?

photo credit: yeowatzup